Love Scorned & Sequels
by firewolfsg
Summary: An AU exploring a ‘what if’ Hojo actually loved Vincent, and Lucrecia was the real ‘villain’ of the tragic love triangle.
1. Love Scorned (Hojo & Lucrecia)

Written more than a year ago. Submitting to Fanfiction.net now. Hope to find an audience here. 

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Fic Setting: The events here take place not too long after Vincent gets his final limit break from Lucrecia. 

**DISCLAIMER:** SquareSoft hold the copyright to all names, likeness and rights of Final Fantasy VII. All these characters and materials are used without permission, and I'm not profiting from this piece of fan fiction. 

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****Love Scorned   
By **[Jacque Koh][1]**   
****Beta Read by Lori McDonald   
****January 2000 

She watched the departure of the red cloaked man with undisguised relief. It would never do for the young man to know the truth or to see her for what she really was. Lucrecia grimaced as she looked down at her frail arthritic hands. They were a constant reminder of her advanced age now as they laboured to type in the necessary commands at her command console. His pale, youthful countenance occupied the screen once more, filling her with bitterness as she looked down to regard her hands again. 

"You haven't aged a day, Vincent. Time left you untouched... Bastard. I hope you like the Chaos limit break." A grim smile pulled at her lips. "Not that it will do you any good against my son. Poor, poor Vincent. At least you finally did one thing right. Hojo is dead--" 

"I got better." 

Lucrecia sucked in a deep breath at the sudden appearance of the voice. The only indication of her shock appeared in the slight trembling of her hand. 

"So... the incompetent failed even that." The aged woman turned in her wheelchair to face the scientist who was her husband. She held back a snarl to see his un-aged form. "Bastard." 

"Bitter, Lucy?" The scientist bowed to her, showing off his still youthful appearance. 

She bristled at the mocking address, but before she could say anything else, Hojo approached to flick a control on the console before her. The image of the young Lucrecia appeared in the light of the altar again. "Ahh, you did look so very pretty 30 years ago, Lucy dear." 

"And you look nothing like the reports I've received over the last few years." Her eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. 

"That is because you were observing my clone, Lucy." He grinned at her. "I am hurt. Did you really believe that I went mad all those months ago? You should have guessed that it was my clone. They are unstable creatures." 

"Clone?" 

"Just like our dear 'son' currently prancing around the earth. The real me left Shinra after his true death. I had other things to think about." He sighed distantly. 

"That sounds *so* convenient, Hojo." The aged woman sneered at him. "Do you mean to say that you really aren't responsible for all those atrocities attributed to you after your alleged Jenova poisoning?" 

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out before he spoke again. "Perhaps I cannot avoid *some* responsibility for the actions of the clone, but I refuse to be held accountable for its deeds. I merely removed myself to work on an admittedly selfish project. Myself." Hojo smiled at her as he looked pointedly at her gnarled and arthritic fingers before glancing at his own smooth youthful looking hand. "No doubt the clone also tried to do the same, but I had far more patience and wisdom in applying that knowledge." 

"We haven't met in 30 years, did you come just to gloat over me?" 

"You never were a very good geneticist, despite the... success you had with Vincent." Hojo turned off the image projector and turned to study her wrinkled and aged form. 

"What do you want, Hojo?! To finally kill me?" 

"No, Lucy. I did realise that your time, to put it bluntly, is short. And we never did speak after... what you did to Vincent." 

"He still hates you, Hojo." Her eyes narrowed at him, filled with its own venom. 

He chose to ignore her hate filled look. "Why, Lucy?" 

"I could ask you the same, Hojo." She snapped back. "You loved him. Do you care to actually admit that now?" 

"Why do I need words? Did my actions not prove it enough to you?" His eyes turned steely as he reached over to grip her frail wrist. "Lucrecia, I respected y--" 

"Did you?" She jerked her hand out of his grip. "You married me just to make sure he'd stay nearby! You were so afraid that I'd marry him and move away... raise three and a half kids. Ha! You should have known me better." She sneered at him mockingly. "The Turk was hardly my type." 

"And all you really cared for was advancing your career." Hojo nodded in acknowledgement. "*That* was your only reason for marrying me." 

"Love matters little to the likes of us, Hojo. We had Jenova, the research with Mako energies... We had Sephiroth! Why did you have to complicate matters with Vincent?" 

"He loved you!" 

"He did not know me! And I was sick to death of his always putting me on a pedestal. Yes, I dated him. All I wanted was a quick roll in bed to get him to stop obsessing over me, but he refused to touch me! I would have been perfectly happy to *play* with that delicious body." Her finger pointed accusingly at him. "That's what you first noticed about him too, isn't it, Hojo? 'Handsome' would have been the least of his descriptions. Vincent Valentine had a chiselled and finely sculptured body. Was that what you fell in lust with?" 

"His beauty isn't just skin deep, Lucy." Hojo's voice turned cold as he tried to control his temper. "Why can you never recognise that? If you bothered to really talk to him, you would have found him to be as cultured and intelligent a man we could ever be privileged to meet. But you couldn't stand him, could you, Lucy? Always hovering in the background, ostensibly to protect us, but watching you most of the time." 

"Watching me with those sad eyes, so filled with puppy love. I couldn't believe it when he presented me with that ring. I thought I'd die from suppressed laughter and he thought the tears I shed were from sorrow?" Lucrecia rolled her eyes at the memory. "He was such a *pathetic* creature. I thought he'd finally leave when he saw me with you." 

"So... you *did* engineer that. To break his heart? To try and drive him away from us? Shows you that I knew him better. I knew he'd stay anyway, out of obligation to protect you. *Just. Because. He. Loved. You.*" He gritted between clenched teeth. "As long as you were happy, he would be happy for you!" Hojo backed away to the far end of the room again, afraid that he'd be tempted once more to strike out at the bitter, old woman. "Why did you care that I loved him?" 

"When I collapsed after Sephiroth's birth... you never visited me while I was recovering. Instead, you spent all your time with *Vincent!*" 

"What? You were jealous?" Hojo swung around to stare at her in surprise. "You had Gast with you! Vincent would have died if I left him!" 

"If you were so concerned about Vincent, why did you shoot him?!" 

"I was--it-- he-- he-- accused me of not knowing how to love. Of... of endangering your life because--" Hojo's hand shook with the frustration of trying to explain his rash actions of so long ago. "I didn't-- I loved him and to have him-- I was-- shocked-- It was an accident! I never expected the gun to go off so easily! I almost killed him... 

"Anyway." He waved his hand dismissively. "I trusted you to be safe in Gast's hands. Vincent needed me. If I hadn't stayed and operated to stabilise his body, he would have died. Why did *you* need me to visit..." Hojo trailed off as the revelation hit him. "Jealousy? Is that it, Lucy?" He strode closer to tower over her. "Is that why you did your damnedest to make him a monster? Why you forced those mutations on him? Why you replaced his left arm with that claw when you damn well knew you could have saved it?! Damn it, Lucrecia! I though I could trust you to heal Vincent while I attended to Sephiroth." 

"Hojo, I may never have loved you either, but I still needed attention!" Her frail hand reached out to grip the lapels of his shirt. "At least to know that I was of some importance to you, *my husband*. You couldn't even show me one shred of concern ... you cared only for him!" 

"I loved him! And you knew that before we agreed to marry to produce Sephiroth!" Hojo knocked her hands away from him and forced himself to walk to the far end of the room again. He wanted so much to latch his hands around her frail neck, he knew he had to put some distance between them or they would never finish their talk. "May the spirits forgive me, I thought that our son was in greater need of my attention; that of the two, our son was more helpless. I thought I could trust you to take care of Vincent, not-- not--" 

"'Beware the fury of a woman scorned.' I couldn't 'touch' you, but your little toy... He would scream so sweetly." Lucrecia's lips pulled back in a parody of a smile. "Did you know, Hojo? That when he first awoke and saw the claw that replaced his left arm, he immediately thought it was your doing? I didn't see any reason to change his mind. It worked so well to make him hate you." 

"You did that just to spite me?" His expression turned incredulous. "Was it really *just* to spite me? To poison his mind so that he'd believe that I was his tormentor?" 

"If you want to think of it that way? Yes." She met his eyes defiantly. 

"Of all the-- have you any idea how long it took me to stabilise his body?!" Only by a force of will did Hojo prevent himself from flying across the room to reach out and slap the old woman. "You injected so many vials of Jenova's cells and infused so much Mako energy in him... Do you realise that in the space of a week, you forced on him the equivalent of what I had been planning for Sephiroth over a period of ten years?!" 

"He is a survivor." 

"You nearly killed him! Was it any surprise that I sent you away from the project as soon as I found out what you did?" 

"And more, wasn't it, Hojo?" 

"And more, Lucy. Are you so proud of it?" A shadow fell across his eyes again. "I found that rod you used to-- to rape him." Hojo seethed at the memory of that discovery. "I did not want you anywhere near Sephiroth." 

"Dear, precious, Sephiroth." Lucrecia sighed theatrically as she placed a hand over her heart. "Only he could drag you away from your beloved Vincent, wasn't he, Hojo." 

"I only put Vincent away because I didn't have the time to heal him when I had Sephiroth to take care of too. He was stable enough for me to entrust him to a death trance. That in itself helped him heal as well." 

"But in suspended animation for *eighteen* years, Hojo?" Hojo refused to look at the old woman. He knew without looking that the expression on her face would be one of mock horror. "Tell me the truth, you also enjoyed the reputation you gained from this, didn't you? That little urban Legend of the missing Turk, especially one of Vincent's calibre?" She laughed gaily at him. "'Foremost assassin and Turk, matchless even by today's standards, missing after a disagreement with Head scientist.' I'm surprised Gast let you do that." 

"He had his own little experiment going with the Cretes. Neither of us had the time to give Vincent the attention he needed." 

"Still... eighteen years, Hojo." She arched one knowing eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you didn't conveniently forget?" 

"No! You should know as well as I that Sephiroth's upbringing and the development of the Mako infusion process for SOLDIERS took up almost all of my time. And when Sephiroth was at that age of rebellion..." Hojo rolled his eyes at the memory. "I would *swear* he was in SOLDIERS because he knew I didn't approve." 

"I've heard different accounts, Hojo." Her whole expression turned conspiratorial. "So will you enlighten me? Is it true that our little Sephiroth found Vincent... in a coffin of all places." A little smile touched Lucrecia's lips again. "Having a gothic hang-up, were you? And long hair... I always suspected you had a long hair fetish. You cultivated that purposely, didn't you? 

"I wonder what Sephiroth thought when he beheld that gaunt, pale figure with the waves of long, raven black hair. Neither of us could resist Vincent's beauty, I'm not surprised our son fell for him too." Her lips pulled into a leer that Hojo honestly thought was absolutely hideous. "I understand that his Turk attire had effectively crumbled to dust over the years. He must have been much too tempting for Sephiroth to resist, wrapped up as he was in near rags that left little to the imagination. 

"But the clothes you chose for him later... I should compliment you, Hojo. The outfit you settled on for Vincent accentuates his beauty perfectly. And it's good that you remembered to dress him in something much more resilient against the passage of time too." She winked at him. "A double-breasted shirt teamed with jeans, black to match his hair... Red cape and headband which matches his eyes. And so many buckles and belts... He cuts such a dashing figure. It's a pity he has so many monsters within." 

Hojo was about to retort angrily when Lucrecia interrupted him again. "So? Did Sephiroth try to kiss him awake like Sleeping Beauty?" 

"I can hardly attest for what he did in the basement" Hojo growled. 

"You sound defensive, Hojo. So, he did kiss your beloved?" 

"If you must know, Sephiroth did kiss him before me, if only to deliver a necessary tranquilliser. The boy disturbed the death trance by trying to awaken Vincent. He went into convulsions not long after he woke up." Hojo shuddered slightly as he remembered a panicked Sephiroth running into his lab, carrying the pale, almost naked man whose body was wracked with violent spasms. So violent, in fact, that he was afraid of approaching Vincent with a needle for fear of breaking it while he injected the muscle relaxant. 

Fortunately, Sephiroth had been quick enough to grab a vial of ingestive barbiturate, take the contents in his mouth and force the liquid past Vincent's lips. Hojo understood the necessity of the motion to make Vincent swallow the potion then, but he had to admit that he was inflamed by jealousy to see his son in a lip lock with the man. 

"Ahh, I'd wager then, you would have liked to be the one to have delivered that life saving kiss. How did you feel, Hojo? To see our son kissing Vincent just as you always wanted to?" She grinned at him, noticing the slight flush in his face at the memory. 

"You appear to know more about this then pure speculation can supply." Hojo's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he regarded her. 

"All right, I confess. I did eventually speak with Sephiroth, Hojo." She waved at him dismissively at being found out. "Even after all this time, even through his madness, our little boy was still distraught over what happened between him and Vincent." She raised her finger to point it at him accusingly. "*This* you can't blame on me, Hojo. So... Why did you drug Sephiroth into raping Vincent?" 

"If Sephiroth told you this... I *did not* make--" 

"Not unassisted," she interrupted him. "And I could draw my own conclusions, Hojo. Sephiroth did say that Vincent hardly responded to you. He claimed that Vincent would only speak with him. So... *you* were jealous, weren't you?" 

"I got along fine--" 

"He only did for you what was necessary and what he thought were reasonable requests related to his own health," Lucrecia corrected him pointedly. "As you say, the boy was hardly stupid. He must have understood that you were trying to help him and putting him through physical therapy to get used to the changes in his body. 

"What did it take, Hojo? A slightly altered treatment of Mako energy? Did this have something to do with the alcohol you finally allowed Sephiroth to have?" 

Hojo looked away in guilt. His mind instantly brought him back to the past nearly twelve years ago, when he found Vincent sobbing piteously under a drunk and passed out Sephiroth in the labs. His claw, almost smashed beyond repair and sparking with loose wires, gave silent attestation to the violence with which his son had attacked the other man. 

"Did you finally get what you wanted, Hojo? To have Vincent crying and clinging to you in pain from the betrayal?" 

"I did not-- I couldn't have predicted..." Hojo's fists trembled in his guilt and anger. All he had thought to cause was Vincent's withdrawal from Sephiroth when the drunken teenager made inappropriate advances. He never truly thought Vincent was in any danger, or that Sephiroth would turn so violent. It still made him sick to recount the score of injuries he was left to bandage and treat after he pulled his hung-over son off the battered and broken man. 

"And Vincent went running back to his coffin, didn't he? The poor, forsaken child." Lucrecia shook her head as she sighed. 

Hojo gritted his teeth in frustration. It was not a time that he cared to remember. Harassed by his work at Shinra, he had no time to properly deal with the fall out from that tragic event. 

Vincent had been his most immediate concern at that time. The man was deeply traumatised by his rape, and furthermore the event had served to drag up all the painful memories of his abuse at Lucrecia's hands. He had totally withdrawn into his own mind in misplaced self-recrimination, blaming himself for the events that led to Sephiroth birth and his rape at that man's hands. 

The man at the centre of the predicament was himself guilt ridden and horrified by his actions. Indeed, Sephiroth had no idea how he could make it up to the other man. He felt much too ashamed to approach Vincent to apologise for what he had done. His regret and guilt over the events of that night hung like a dark cloud over him for many years to come. Hojo had been at his wit's end at what to do with either of them. 

Eventually, Vincent had removed himself from their presence and returned to the coffin to 'hide'. Hojo knew that that was the absolute last thing he should have allowed the traumatised man to do, but he had to acknowledge that it was the most convenient action in their current situation. It at least provided Hojo a postponement of the time he currently didn't have to properly deal with the trauma. He promised himself then that he would have the time and knowledge ready to help Vincent when he next woke him. In the meantime, he had to deal with Sephiroth's guilt and loathing over his actions. Something he was also at a loss to handle. 

"Did you stop loving Sephiroth then?" Lucrecia's words interrupted his thoughts. 

"No man likes to acknowledge that his son is a rapist," Hojo gritted. "But he was my son. I did not stop loving him for that-- mistake." 

"Are you sure? Wasn't this the event which put that final wedge between you, enough that you didn't care when our son started to go mad from his guilt and thoughts of being a monster?" 

"No! Don't you dare try and blame me for Sephiroth's madness! I did not record the lies of Jenova..." Hojo's eyes narrowed as he looked sternly at the old woman. "Do *you* admit to this, Lucrecia?" 

"Does it matter?" 

Hojo stayed silent for a moment before he reached over draw a finger over the wrinkled skin of her hand. "We *are* already beyond regrets, aren't we?" 

Lucrecia snatched her hand away at his unsubtle reminder of their differing appearances. "Will you answer me this, Hojo?" She arched a questioning eyebrow at him. "If you left Shinra years ago... Why *didn't* you take Vincent with you?" 

"It took me this long to learn enough about Jenova and Mako infusions to stabilise my current form, Lucrecia. What you accomplished with luck when you experimented on Vincent, I wanted to understand fully." Hojo huffed in frustration. "Besides, the Chocobo boy woke Vincent and spirited him away before I was ready to do the same." 

Lucrecia shook her head. "Vincent is delusional if he thinks he and his ragged band of 'heroes' can stop the inevitable." 

"He is a survivor." Hojo came up beside her and reached out to take her hand. 

"What do you intend to do?" Lucrecia felt a premonition of unpleasantness when she realised Hojo wasn't going to let her pull free of his grip this time. 

"A favour... in a way. I did notice your-- envy over Vincent's and my ability to stop aging." 

Lucrecia's eyes widened when she noticed the syringe in Hojo's other hand. She tried to grab the needle , but her hands proved to be too weak. 

"There you go, Lucy." Hojo patted her hand after he released it. "You don't have to worry about dying of old age any longer." 

"You-- you--" 

"That is my revenge, Lucrecia. For all the pain you caused Vincent. For the son you corrupted and drove mad. For all your efforts in making Vincent hate me when all I wanted was his love." With that statement, Hojo casually reached for the mug sitting on a side table and threw it at the monitor of the console. "Maybe... a few years down the road, I will tell Vincent about all this." 

"If we're all still alive!" Lucrecia's eyes widened as Hojo continued to smash the console that represented her only connection to the world beyond the waterfall. "Hojo! Stop--" 

"You should give Vincent more credit, Lucy." The man turned towards her as soon as he was satisfied that her control console was destroyed. 

"He will never listen to--" 

"I have my doubts, Lucrecia." Hojo smiled at her nastily. "Did you even pay attention to him as he left, Lucy dear? Your final dig at him... giving him the Chaos limit break. Did you even consider that he might begin to doubt your feelings for him? You discharged in him the most fearsome *monster* he has ever encountered. Do you *really* think he would thank you for that? You should have stuck with a sole presentation of the Death Penalty." 

He nodded to her in slight acknowledgement. "Perhaps... I should thank you, Lucy dear. He is starting to have his doubts about the past now. 

"Once this is all over, I will finally have the time, Lucrecia. I can *finally* devote as much time as I desire to help Vincent recover from the traumatic events of the past," Hojo told her evenly as he started to walk towards the exit. "You know as well as I do that Vincent Valentine has no family remaining in this age. And with what you have just done to him, he will continue to stay apart from other people. 

"I intend to wait for him at the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. I have little doubt that that is where he will eventually go after this affair with our son is finished." 

"Hojo! Wait you can't leave me here like this!" Lucrecia stared at her destroyed command console in rising fear as the man walked away. 

"Goodbye, Lucy. Live long." 

"Hojo!" 

He did not look back. He had many more plans to make for the future. Once he picked up his 'guest'... Costa de Sol sounded like a good place to retire. 

A determined smile pulled on his lips. Gone were the days when he was too shy to initiate a relationship for fear of being rebuffed. Lucrecia was no longer a threat who might take Vincent away from him. And he had left Shinra, was believed to be dead, with no more ties to a job and to projects which might have once stolen every possible free moment he had. There were no more distractions. He could not have planned it any better. 

Alone in a world vastly changed during his 30 years of slumber; without family or anything remotely familiar to cling to; and carrying the still un-dealt with trauma of the abuse suffered upon him, Vincent Valentine would be at his most vulnerable. The smile drew into a grin as Hojo plotted how he would exploit this weakness. 

He had already allowed 30 years to pass waiting for a chance to strike, he wasn't going to waste any more time. There was much to atone for with his love alone, and he finally had the time and leisure to do a good job of it... provided his son was stopped. But... Hojo had a lot of faith in Vincent. 

Once his 'son' was dealt with and AVALANCHE disbanded, he would make his move. Then Vincent was most assuredly going to be his sole project for as long as it took for Hojo to make him return his love. 

**The End**

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Thanks for reading.

[Jacque Koh][1]

   [1]: mailto:firewolf@pacific.net.sg?Subject=FF7 - Love Scorned



	2. The Other Man (a rival arrives)

Note: Sequel to Love. Scorned. I'm adopting the name 'Simon' for Hojo's first name in respect of Hojo's Honeys ^_^ Also paid a nod towards Hojo's coffee in the story. 

**DISCLAIMER:** SquareSoft hold the copyright to all names, likeness and rights of Final Fantasy VII. All these characters and materials are used without permission, and I'm not profiting from this piece of fan fiction. 

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The Other Man 

By **[Jacque Koh][1]**   
****Beta Read by Lori McDonald   
****March 2000 

Hojo sneezed as his efforts to move a pile of books raised another billowing dust cloud. He had been working steadily for two days now, packing the last of his books and files from the dusty library in the Shinra Mansion. For the umpteenth time, he cursed his lack of foresight in not packing his books and putting them into storage for easy removal later. The Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim had lain largely abandoned for nearly a decade, and there was now enough dust and cobwebs over the contents of the mansion to give mute evidence of the musty misery he was now in. 

Staring at the mountain of boxes that now stood in the denuded library, Hojo smeared his dusty hand over his forehead and turned to retire to the room he'd stayed in since he left Lucrecia's waterfall. Despite his tiredness, he couldn't help but chuckle as he picked his way though the rubble that was left after Cloud's party had blown through with their battles against his perfunctory guardians. 

The abandoning of the Shinra mansion had been a stroke of genius, which protected his secrets for years without his need to keep close attention to stop intruders. Indeed, Sephiroth's accidental discovery of Vincent while they were still using the building reminded him that he had already been fortunate to be able to hide him for that long without anyone the wiser. Since the Shinra mansion was a constant hive of activity with the SOLDIERS, it was a wonder that no one had stumbled into Vincent earlier. 

No one in Shinra could rightly remember why management decided to quit the building, but persistent rumours did abound that an unauthorised experiment lay buried in the bowels of the basement. Hojo had to admit that the obscure note he left on their final parting with the building about the 'missing' Turk was overkill, and really a tasteless milking of the urban legend that grew around Vincent's disappearance twenty years earlier. But the ruse did work. Only adolescents were ever curious enough to want to explore the abandoned building and of them, none ever made it past the first sentinel he had planted to guard the way to Vincent's tomb. So Vincent had lain safe and undiscovered for another 12 years. 

Hojo shook his head in mute frustration. If Cloud and his party had only delayed their visit to the mansion by two days, he could have had Vincent removed without anyone the wiser. Instead, the Chocobo boy dragged the ex-Turk into his grand quest, leaving Hojo in their dust. The only consolation Hojo had in the whole affair was that they had inevitably led him to Lucrecia, and facilitated the confrontation that had been a long time waiting. A grin pulled at his lips at the memory of how he had left her; A decrepit, old woman bequest with near immortality. Revenge was sweet. 

From the terminal in his room, Hojo wanted to make one last sweep of the mansion, with the help of the ancient but still operational cameras, before he arranged to move his belongings to more pleasant surroundings. Then he could concentrate on the project of receiving his expected guest. Hojo hummed happily at his thoughts of the future. Unfortunately, he wasn't yet paying attention to the idly flipping channels since he was instead studying the dubious pot of coffee sitting on the warmer. So he missed seeing the red-cloaked visitor tying the reins of his Chocobo to the crumbling fence. As the terminal continued displaying images of the visitor entering the mansion to his back, Hojo debated whether or not he should risk finishing the day-old coffee. 

If there was one thing Hojo did like about Lucrecia, it was her coffee making expertise. Of the three scientists and one Turk who started out together in the Shinra mansion, Lucrecia made the best coffee. It was a standing joke among them that Hojo's efforts swung between a comparison to drinking old dishwater, and consuming a sentient being which tried to choke you as it made its way down your throat. His current efforts fitted into the latter category. He was quite sure that if he left it for another day, the resulting... thing... would be capable of bursting free of the pot and taking over the world. 

Hojo sighed to himself as he poured out the last cup of the bitter brew. "Other people save the world by packing guns and swinging swords, I do it by consuming this. Oh, for the love of humanity do I sacrifice myself to this endeavour." He lifted the cup in salute to an imaginary audience. 

As he braced himself to drink the brew and try and get it down as quickly as possible, Hojo reminded himself rather hopefully that Vincent could brew a mean cup too. Or at least Hojo remembered his attempts to be close to Lucrecia's average efforts. So with that happy thought, Hojo took a huge gulp and turned back towards the terminal. 

At a later date, Dr. Simon Hojo would swear that the sentient being he mistakenly thought was coffee came the closest to taking his life of any other foe he could remember. The last time Hojo could recall shooting any sort of liquid through his nose was at five years of age when a playmate had startled him in the schoolyard. That had been milk. Having the sentient being he called coffee follow that same route felt infinitely worse. 

He was in a whimsical mood. That was the only explanation Hojo had to account for his thoughts of sentient beings and failed assassination attempts. As he coughed and hacked over the coffee splattered terminal in his efforts to clear the last of the offending brew from his air passages, he still managed to command his body to tap in the necessary commands that halted the random display from the cameras. Hojo soon had the cause of his current state displayed on the screen as he picked his way through the rubble of the mansion towards a special room that held the secret passage to the basement. The man was unmistakable with his all black attire, red cloak and golden claw. 

*Wheeze* *cough* "Vincent?" *Wheeze* 

Once his coughing was under control, Hojo's fingers quickly started tapping the keys on the coffee-deluged keyboard, wincing as sizzling sparks spurted at him. To his relief, the controls were responding and he was able to have the cameras follow the movements of the ex-Turk. "Don't die on me, don't die on me." He prayed rather reverently that the terminal would survive the coffee abuse. 

"Why did you have to come now, Vincent?" Hojo groaned as he glanced at his dirt and coffee smeared overalls. "F$%k, I can't let you see me like this, I look disgusti--" He paused in mid-sentence when he realised where his thoughts were going. "I'm acting like a school girl with her first crush, this is so undignified!" 

It was to Hojo's great relief that he could open a small window on the screen, which showed a meteor still on its inexorable path towards them, while the main screen tracked the red cloaked man. It was obvious to him that Sephiroth was still at large, so why was Vincent Valentine here now? 

As Hojo watched curiously, Vincent walked up to the coffin in which he had lain for thirty years and stroked the velvet lined interior. The coffin had not been a cheap or tacky thing in construction, Hojo was insistent on that. Instead, Hojo had taken great pains to order one made with a rich, soft and lasting lining as if to receive a precious treasure. Which in truth it was, since that was where he had laid Vincent to sleep thirty years ago. 

"So... are you only now noticing the attention I gave to your bed, my love?" Hojo asked softly as Vincent continued to run his fingers over the cushioned interior. Then to his utmost surprise, Vincent leaped into a lazy somersault that landed him in the coffin just as he had lain before Cloud found him. Hojo's hands were on his terminal screen in shock. "Vincent, what in the world...? Why would you want to return to this?" 

Hojo winced as the terminal sparked at him again when he typed in a couple of commands, directing the cameras to zoom in on the coffin's contents. "Don't die on me. Please, I'll polish you up nice and shiny and take you with me." He continued to mutter pleadingly to the much-abused terminal. "Just keep working for another-- thirty minutes? I think that's all I need. F$%k! What do I do now? I never even thought to rig the coffin to receive him agai--' 

Hojo's words trailed off as Vincent's face came into focus on the flickering screen. All other thoughts fled his mind to see this beautiful face before him again. A face that he had not seen up close since Vincent fled the labs to hide from him and Sephiroth nearly 12 years ago; when he had made one last check on the sleeping man before sealing the coffin that second time. Guilt ate at Hojo from that memory of his gently cleaning away the tearstains from the cheeks of the finally relaxed and peaceful face. His brow no longer furrowed with wretchedness as sleep stole his senses and muffled all expression of pain. 

For just a moment, Hojo gazed upon that unrevealing expression again. Then it shifted. There was little reason for Vincent to think that he was being observed, so he let down his guard and Hojo found himself suddenly staring straight into the ex-Turk's soul. A tightness in his throat made Hojo feel short of breath as he studied the crimson eyes which seemed to stare unseeingly at him. They didn't look very much different to what he remembered, when he had first cradled Vincent to him the morning after Sephiroth raped him. Their depths were still filled with all the pain, anguish and confusion his suffering had wrought on him. 

Hojo swallowed hard as guilt rose in his gullet, reminding him of his unintended part in the man's suffering. "If only..." Those words never sounded more sad to him than any other time. If only... there was some way he could turn back the clock. Worked up the courage then to woo the Turk and make him understand that Lucrecia had no interest in him at all, instead of playing all those games. If he hadn't been--been stupid enough to keep a loaded gun in the lab. If the gun hadn't accidentally gone off. If he hadn't thrown it away from him and allowed it to discharge again on impact with the ground. If that second shot hadn't nearly severed Vincent's arm. 'If only...' 

As he watched, Vincent's right hand tremblingly stroked the length of his left appendage, which ended in the golden claw that now lay across his breast. Hojo had to wonder what was currently running through the man's mind. But again, when Vincent closed his eyes and relaxed into the depths of the coffin, Hojo felt his breath taken away to see him in peaceful repose. His lips parted slightly as he dozed in the comfortable embrace of the red velvet lining. 

It was little comfort to Hojo that he had predicted Vincent's return correctly. He wasn't anywhere ready to receive the man. It was quite a bit of trouble to build, but Hojo had intended to rig the ventilation system at the mansion to slowly introduce a sleeping gas upon Vincent's arrival, which would encourage him to take a rest. Once the man was dozing, Hojo could then step in to send the man the rest of the way into hibernation and arrange to move him. That was the preliminary plan, which admittedly wasn't the best of arrangements, but watching the man now... Hojo had to admit that he hadn't even thought to rig the coffin, which would have been so much easier to set up. He wouldn't have guessed that Vincent would voluntarily lie down in his coffin again. If the truth was to be told, he was shocked and deeply worried about the man's mental health. Was Vincent so troubled that he actually found peace of mind in his coffin? Hojo had to close his eyes at that thought. The coffin *was* where Vincent had first fled to after that-- unfortunate incident with Sephiroth. How messed up did he and Lucrecia make the man to have him associate comfort and security with the coffin? 

The sparking of the terminal awakened Hojo from his reverie enough to set his mind racing with plans. Vincent was here *now*, apparently dozing in his coffin. Whatever it was that made Vincent want to seek a retreat in the confining 'prison', Hojo promised himself he'd deal with later; He had a chance to secure the man *now*. He had faith in Vincent, Hojo tried to tell himself, he really did believe the man capable of facing his 'son' and surviving the encounter. But why take the chance? Why should he risk Vincent coming to any harm with the mad man? Only how was he to go about sending Vincent back into hibernation without appearing before him? The man would never agree to trust Hojo now, he was sure of it. And he wasn't about to approach the ex-Turk in his current state either. Hojo looked in disgust at his dusty and coffee splattered attire. "Damn it, Valentine, why did you have to arrive *before* I prepared anythin--" 

"What the $%#@ do ya think yer doing?!" 

Hojo's started as a brown gloved hand streaked into his view of the screen and closed on the front of Vincent's cape. He only had time to catch a glimpse of Vincent's startled expression before the man was pulled out of the camera's focus range. Hojo's frantic pounding of the sparking terminal's keys made the camera zoom out and allowed him to see one Cid Highwind roughly pulling the ex-Turk out of his retreat. He apparently wasn't the only one surprised by the sudden appearance of the pilot. Vincent's eyes were wide with shock to find himself slung over the shoulder of the gruff man. 

"Ya stupid @$#%. Ya were already sleeping in that %@#$ thing for thirty @$%# years before we woke ya up. Why the @%#$ do ya want to get in the #%@$ thing again?" 

The man had presence, Hojo had to give that to him. Vincent appeared too stunned and disorientated by the pilot's sudden presence to respond as Cid carried him across the room before dumping him on one of the abandoned coffins. 

"Why the @$#% did ya come back to this @$%# place?" The pilot towered over Vincent and gripped him about his arms. 

"Cid?" 

"I thought ya were going to wait for me. I went tearing through the %$#@ whole of Rocket Town looking for ya before Shera told me your Chocobo was missing." 

"Cid." 

"Guessed that ya'd end up in this #$@% place." 

"Cid." 

Hojo growled softly to himself as Cid started to shake the stunned man. "And what do I find when I get here? Ya getting all cosy back in that %#$@ coffin." 

"Cid!" Vincent's hands had come up between them to rest on Cid's chest as if holding him back; The claws on his left hand he carefully curled away from his angry friend so as not to hurt him.. 

"What the $#@% were ya thinking of?" Cid was almost nose to nose with Vincent now, breathing heavily. 

"I-- Cid--" 

"I was worried about ya." The voice in contrast to the earlier tones gentled and held a concerned warmth. 

Hojo felt the blood rushing to his face in a heat of possessiveness. He had previously endured for thirty years, and once again, a rival appeared to try and take Vincent away from him. He was incensed. "F$%k! No, not again. I will not let anyone come between us again!" 

"I'm not helpless!" The pale man broke free of Cid's hold before darting around him and rounding on him angrily. "I may be thirty years behind my time, but I can take care of myself." Hojo cheered him silently, his blood cooling as he observed this rejection. 

"Aw %$#, Vince, that's not what I mean! I was just-- I just wanted to know where ya'd gone." 

"Cloud told us to go wherever we felt like to-- think about whether or not we wanted to fight Sephroith." Vincent reminded him. "You had Rocket Town... This is the only place I know-- that still exists." 

"Why here? And not the falls?" Cid rolled his eyes as he waved his hands at the gloomy surroundings. "Why this $%^# crypt for #$%& sakes?" 

"Lucrecia..." Vincent turned away to stared at the coffin in the centre of the room. "I realised that-- some things may not have been how I remembered them to be." 

Hojo turned up the volume of the speakers in interest. The possibility he had taunted Lucrecia with in her hideout at the Falls sounded closer to fruition than he dared hoped. 

"I-- may have been wrong about-- about Hojo." 

"What?! The %#$@ freak who stuck ya down here for thirty years? Who gave ya that ar--?" 

"That's who I thought was responsible." Vincent turned back to Cid, a troubled frown creased his brow. "I'm... not sure anymore." 

Hojo wanted to crow with joy. Vincent was having doubts without any external prompting. There was hope for them after all. 

"What 'not responsible'? Who @#%$ else was ther--?" 

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" 

Both Cid and Hojo were stunned... knocked off their socks really. This was the first time either could recall Vincent having raised his voice to scream at anyone. He had turned away from Cid almost immediately, his arms wrapped around his body as he trembled, obviously upset. 

Hojo reached for the screen and stroked the back of a finger on the glass over Vincent's image tenderly. He could guess what Vincent was trying not to acknowledge right now. The idea that all the pain and torture of the past was misplaced. It was obvious though, that Cid hadn't the faintest idea what was going on. But the man looked like he was going to try to offer whatever comfort he could anyway. 

"Hey, I'm not asking." Cid shuffled his feet as he approached to allow Vincent to hear him before he placed his hand on the red cloaked shoulder. Vincent accepted the touch. 

A low growl rumbled in Hojo's throat as he noted this and he found himself leaning closer to the sparking terminal. There was no mistaking the body language of the pilot as he approached the ex-Turk. If his sudden appearance hadn't screamed it out already, Hojo could see clear signs of a man in love in Cid Highwind. 

Hojo's mind had seemed to cease working. The scientist was suddenly seeing red as he recognised the confirmed appearance of a rival. He hardly noticed the responding body language of the 'target'. Didn't stop to think or identify the expression in Vincent's eyes as the two men faced each other. 

"Vincent..." The timbre in the pilot's voice was unmistakable. 

The terminal chose that moment to expire. "NOOO! %$#@#$%#&@# piece of crap!" Hojo pounded the monitor in frustration. "Not now! %$#@%$" 

He spun around furiously taking in the contents of his room at a glance. "My mobile unit! Where did I put the f@%king mobile unit?!" Hojo dived at the stack of boxes and supplies he had piled beside the bed and started to dig frantically for the little device. Finally unearthing it from the bottom of his clothes bag, after having upended three boxes of computer printouts and files, he muttered, "Of course it'll be in the *last* place I'll ever look. Had to be smart and put it with my clean shirts and towels for cushioning. mumble, grumble> Should have brought the proper carry case." 

It took him a precious few minutes more to disconnect the dead terminal and wire his mobile computer into the network. "Come on, come on. I want to know what's happening down there!" Hojo winced to himself as he tried to control the speed of his furious typing. Making spelling mistakes in the commands, he reminded himself, would further delay the start up of the system. However, even as one part of him was frantic to learn what transpired between the two men, Hojo could not deny the fear of the other part of him that did not want to know if the one he wanted was in love with someone else. 

Hojo took a deep breath to brace himself as he waited for the screen to come online. He kept trying to reassure himself that Valentine was not the kind to fall for someone as crude and uncouth as Cid Highwind... Mayor of Rocket Town... reputed to be one of the best pilots on the planet... A man with a dream of viable space travel. Hojo could recall coming across a report on that abortive project which Shinra eventually pulled the funding on. Hojo hated to admit it, but to be fair the man, like it or not, was a catch in himself. 

"Not. Without. A. Fight." Hojo gritted as the screen finally started to flicker and a window on the small screen started to focus on the happenings in the basement. The sight that greeted him was definitely un-welcomed. Cid Highwind had backed the ex-Turk against a wall and was currently holding him there in a passionate lip lock. 

Hojo had to sit down. He felt as if his whole world had come crashing down on him. That life was playing a cruel joke on him in not ever letting him have the one he loved. He quietly swore to himself, "Not! Without! A! Fight!" He looked up to stare intently at the screen again with a determined air. It was only then that he noticed the aberration in what he initially thought was a passionate kiss. Vincent was trembling, but it wasn't in passion. The man was tensed, but it wasn't arousal. If Hojo was to hazard a guess, it almost seemed like he was-- Vincent looked-- frightened. 

It was at that same moment that the pilot broke the kiss to look at the man he had pressed against the wall. To the surprise of both observing men, Vincent did not even open his eyes at his withdrawal. 

"Vince? Wha-- what's wrong?" 

"What?" Vincent blinked and stared at Cid in confusion. 

Cid eased back on his pressure against him. "Ya didn't kiss back-- yer all tensed..." The pilot released him and took a step back in confusion. "If ya didn't want me to kiss ya, why didn't ya just tell me 'no' or push me away?" 

"No?" 

By now even Hojo was curious, he didn't understand why Vincent had suddenly become so passive and unresponsive either. 

"'No'. I would have respected that. What do ya think I am?" 

"But-- no one's ever listened before." Vincent frowned at him in confusion. 

"S&%t, damn you, Lucrecia." Hojo cursed softly even as Cid threw himself back from crowding the trembling man. 

"F$%k! What da ya mea--? What did--? Why didn't ya just push me away? Yer just as strong as I am. I woulda--" 

"It would-- hurt less." 

"Hurt les--?" Cid stared at him in confusion. "Can ya tell me what the f%$-- what ya mean by that?" 

Vincent chewed on his lower lip as he looked away. "Didn't matter whether or not I was-- able... Happened anyway-- and-- it just-- hurt less if I didn't struggle. Never changed-- still-- happened..." 

Hojo shook his head in remorse. It made sense to him now. He knew all too well what Vincent had suffered. It was certainly one of the reasons why he had thrown Lucrecia out of the mansion and banned her from ever approaching their son. Kept drugged or strapped down like a lab specimen, Vincent had no defence against Lucrecia's warped amusements. He could only guess that over the many months Vincent was her prisoner, she had conditioned him to passively accept whatever torture she wished to inflict. Hojo cursed himself again for entrusting Vincent to Lucrecia's care. He had been so tied up taking care of Sephiroth and his Jenovah project, he had never thought to even look in on Vincent to check on his recovery. It was certainly a huge oversight for him to forget how he had ignored Lucrecia's 'need' while he was saving Vincent's life. For him to place Vincent straight into her care following her discharge from the hospital... that was gross stupidity on his part. But even with Lucrecia gone, Vincent's later encounter with Sephiroth, Hojo guessed, could have served to reinforce the conditioning. From all evidence, Vincent did try to fight back. But Sephiroth got the upper hand somehow and Hojo had seen enough the next morning to understand that Sephiroth must have battered Vincent into submission before he raped him. 

All this, Cid Highwind could not have known. But the pilot could still put two and two together and understand somehow that Vincent had been brutally abused in the past. 

"Vince?" Cid's hand reached out to caress his cheek gently. "I'm sorry. Please believe me, I would never hurt ya. If ya-- don't want me, I-- I'll understand." 

"Want? I-- don't know." The pale man turned away from him to hug himself. "I've only ever-- loved one person before... and now--" His right hand stroked the gleaming metal of the claw that made up his left appendage. "I-- don't know what to believe anymore, Cid." 

Hojo closed his eyes, his own heart ached to reach out to enfold the hurting man in his arms, much as he could guess Cid wanted to do now. But they both knew that Vincent would not invite that kind of intimacy yet. They needed to let him have control of the situation, Hojo realised, let the man have the choice to make the first move. For now, they were intruders to his much needed privacy. 

"I-- I'm gonna head back." Cid looked down as he scuffed the floor with his foot. 

"To join Cloud?" 

"Yeah, can't let the kid handle Sephiroth on his own. Not like I'm gonna let him take the Highwind without me at the helm either." 

Vincent looked over his shoulder at the grizzled pilot. "I'll come with you." 

"Ya sure? I interrupted--" 

"Doesn't matter." Vincent already started towards the flight of stairs. "My life was on hold for thirty years, what difference will a few days make ? Facing-- Sephiroth-- saving the planet-- I guess that sounds like the only thing that adds any meaning to my life right now." 

"Vincent--" 

"Later." He looked down at the pilot for a moment before he continued the climb up. "It's-- not important." 

Hojo could feel the frustration rolling off Cid at the man's defeatist attitude with his own life. But he didn't say anything, only muttering a low curse before hurrying after his departing friend. 

Hojo made no move to stop them, instead watching silently as they saddled their Chocobos. If he were to make an observation, the two men did keep a respectful distance between them as they started their mounts into an easy trot. But Hojo doubted that Cid Highwind had given up. Now was just not the time to force the issue, Hojo eyed the approaching Meteor pointedly, but as soon as that business was over, Cid would try again. He was sure of it. Just like he was sure that Vincent would be back. 

"I'll see you back here again when the confrontation with my 'son' is over, Vincent. But please *don't* bring that pilot with you." He still had his worries about Vincent's safety, but he reminded himself that he had faith in the man. Besides, it sounded like something Vincent wanted to do. Like it was the only sure thing he had in his life now. 

"I'll be waiting for you, Vincent." Hojo said quietly to the monitor as he watched the two men riding away. "Things will get better, Vincent. I can promise you that. I can give you a new life. 

"But I'm not going to let anyone come between us again. Not Lucrecia... Not Cid Highwind. I've waited thirty years, Vincent Valentine. This time I will get it right, and you *will* be *mine*." 

**The End**

* * *

Thanks for reading.

[Jacque Koh][1]

   [1]: mailto:firewolf@pacific.net.sg?Subject=FF7 - The Other Man



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